'The Not-Romney Campaign'

Infidelity and missing precincts and dropouts, oh my!

January 20, 2012

Podiums for Thursday's debate between the four remaining Republican presidential candidates stand ready at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, South Carolina. The debate, hosted by CNN and the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, will be the final debate before South Carolina voters head to the polls in their primary January 21. (Win McNamee, Getty Images)

If you've harbored a secret suspicion that one of the Republican presidential candidates yearns for a lifestyle with multiple mates, it turns out you're right.

No, no, not Mitt Romney; his Mormon predecessors formally renounced polygamy more than a century ago. We're talking about Newt Gingrich. ABC News reported Thursday that, according to one of his ex-wives, Gingrich allegedly asked her during their marriage if she would share him with his then-mistress and current wife, Callista. Quoth Marianne Gingrich: "He wanted an open marriage and I refused."

That was but one of the difficult turns Thursday for Republicans hoping to sidetrack front-runner Romney. By nightfall, devotees of The Not-Romney Campaign were qualified to teach courses in Disappointment Management:

Rick Santorum, who early this month evidently finished second to Romney in Iowa — remember Iowa? — learned that he actually might have won the first-in-the-nation caucuses. You'll recall that Santorum trailed Romney on caucus night by eight votes statewide. But the Iowa Republican Party's canvass suggests that Santorum in fact had a 34-vote advantage. Yet even that outcome is suspect: Results from eight of the state's 1,774 precincts are irretrievably lost. Remember, caucuses are informal party functions, not elections. The state party's executive director characterized the outcome to The Des Moines Register as "a split decision," which is how it will go down in history.

That's bitter wine for Santorum. At a time when Americans no longer care, he's trying to claim an Iowa victory over Romney, the candidate whose perceived inevitability he and the other candidates desperately wanted to block. Santorum learned Thursday that a new Rasmussen poll has him at fourth place among South Carolina Republicans, who will cast their primary votes Saturday. Just since Monday, Santorum had slipped by 5 points, to an unimpressive 11 percent. After Iowa, he was at 24 percent in South Carolina.

That poll has Gingrich with a 33-31 lead over Romney. That is: On the very day The Not-Romney Campaign at last had Romney looking beatable in an early primary state, Gingrich was newly embarrassed and Santorum was tanking.

All of which turned Thursday into an ideal moment for a mature and moneyed candidate — Rick Perry comes to mind — to emerge as leader of The Not-Romney Campaign. Except that on Thursday morning Perry, um, dropped out of the race and beat feet back to Texas. He called it a "strategic retreat," reminiscent of Herman Cain's decision to "suspend" his campaign.

Perry also managed to turn an endorsement of his former rival Gingrich into yet another reminder of — how do we put this — Gingrich's frailties. "I believe Newt is a conservative visionary who can transform our country," Perry said. "We have had our differences, which campaigns will inevitably have. Newt is not perfect, but who among us is?"

That might have been, yes, Marianne Gingrich applauding Perry's unintended reference to Newt's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Expect much resonance from her declaration to ABC that her ex-husband's campaign positions on the sanctity of marriage and the importance of family values do not square with what she saw during her 18 years of marriage. Her assertion that Newt moved to divorce her shortly after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and that he was present when her doctor told her to avoid stress, probably won't be a big help as he competes for the women's vote.

Thursday night, Gingrich denied his ex-wife's allegations.

OK, maybe someone else can pick up the Not-Romney banner.

Except Ron Paul is stuck at 15 percent in South Carolina and, for all the hearts he stirs, not hurting Romney one bit. And Jon Huntsman? The other day he joined Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty and Cain in the dropout brigade. And barring the brokered convention that's always a possibility but almost never a reality, it's too late for Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Jeb Bush, Sarah Palin, Donald Trump et al. to come in from the cold.

So whom does that leave? Well, there is … Mitt Romney. On Thursday he was clever and classy, characterizing the Iowa outcome as "a virtual tie" and taking time to "once again recognize Rick Santorum for his strong performance in the state."

Given the GOP campaign to date, we won't go near a prediction that The Not-Romney Campaign is over. Primary seasons can be rollicking rides. Rollick on.

But as we surveyed what remained of the Republican field Thursday night, it sure looked like the only one who can win is the Not-Not-Romney candidate. That is, Mitt Romney.